Look what we git for bailin out GM

they kill the competition due to a superior product...........

I really like my 07 Dodge 4X4 with the new Turbo Diesel, talk about power and a good looking truck to. Had a F-150 once, it was OK but sure had a lot of problems. One truck I wished I had back was my Chevy 1/2 ton crew cab 4X4 short box that was loaded. Sorry if you don't like Chevy but that was one dang nice truck. We sold it cause we had the dodge and the Chevy and consolidated down to one. With the high price of diesel now wished I would have kept the Chevy and sold the Dodge. Gets kind of expensive using the diesel for work but like I said that's one fine truck. I think I heard on the news that Dodge just paid back a bunch of money to the citizens but I'm sure JB won't care.

So is that why Ford has built auto plants in Mexico

It's not about US manuf having out of country plants, remember these are GLOBAL companies with sales in Mexico, South America, Europe, China, and we should like that because we get money from those countries back from sales.

Producing cars there makes sense, just like making them here makes sense for the Japs, if they don't the government tariffs in these countries would make selling Fords in South America impossible...

As to Ford, yes the management took control, and were the first to convince the Union
to take over the pensions, giving the Unions billions of cash dollars today, and basically eliminating the ongoing expense of paying the social welfare costs of retirees.

And knowing the greedy union bosses want more money and more control over their members
taking over the pensions and taking all that instant cash was too much to pass up, JMO they will f(ck up your union pensions so fast it will blow your mind, and the feds will have then again bail out the Union employee retirement plans.

Ford just offloaded trillions of potential balance sheet debt and cash on the UAW, one of the biggest
and greatest negotiations by Management ever, they are laughing their butts off in Dearborn over that one...

Remember that -$3K starting price? Majority of it is paying for retired or laid off UNION employees, you lay off a white collar guy/gal and that's it. Lay off or close a Union plant and the Union workers contracts will get them paid for years... Absurd...

GM's former CEO said they were not a car company but they were a retirement management firm that just happened to sell cars to pay for benefits...

If you need proof, read this article about VW http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43159310/ns/business-autos/ bringing a plant to Non Union Shop state Tennessee, no unions, lower labor costs, better production, better quality. VW left the US as a manufacturer in the 70's and closed two plants, main reason? Problems with unions, and for a German company to leave because of a Union is amazing being that Germany is THE ULTIMATE in social engineering government wise.

Employees in the union are protected by the Union and thus have no incentive to go
the extra mile, not bad people but the environment they work in doesn't foster a good
employer - employee relationship, the Union works to make management as the problem, and management doesn't like a gun being held to their heads by a group that has no real interest in the companies success, just in how much they can get from that company.

Example - Postal worker makes $80K a year caught defecating on lawn during route
Management put him on unpaid leave and considered dismissing him, Union intervened and he's being moved to a new route...

Realize too that the Imperial Federal Government has made it darn near impossible to
move or close a union plant for a non union, (See Boeing SC Plant issues) with the NLRB who is the federal thug arm of the Unions. In the end the company has to close or move out of the country to achieve growth as it cannot afford to compete globally with $100 and hour labor costs in the US....

Kia, has everything to do with it. They are in a country without unions, and the company doesn't have the legal overhead that a US company does here, the reason you now have a Kia plant is 1) so kia buyers can feel better about an "American Purchase" 2) avoid tariffs, 3) and they built it in a Right to Work state.

VW, Kia, Toyota, Nissan, Audi, Mercedes all have plants here,
any of them in the closed shop states? Nope....

Ever wonder why taxes are going up in IL, MI, etc, jobs are leaving, and the youth are moving out of those states?

They are dinosaurs..

Yep, well said

Read the other posts after that dude

Ford, he said, has cut its factory capacity to match demand, and it anticipates no further cuts will be necessary as long as the U.S. auto market doesn't worsen considerably. The company has announced the closure of 17 factories and eliminated 50,000 jobs since 2005, many through buyout and early retirement offers.

In short mgt saw it coming and forced the unions early, and put together a good plan
to survive, GM did not, big labor Johnny seems to think it's all one sided or, he's just poking a stick to see what comes out of the fray...

It's a combination of poor decisions, and some of those decisions were made for management, again the NLRB prohibits companies from closing plants to move to non union states to eliminate the Union Jobs. What other industry has to deal with that absurd rule, once Union always Union...

Frankly GM should have taken bankruptcy, closed all the plants in the USA, moved production overseas

The fact remains that management of all three were saddled with bad labor and retirement agreements that could no longer be afforded because

1) Cost of retirement expenses exceeded actuarial estimations (people living longer)
2) Number or retired or laid off paid workers exceed the number of workers (hey can you say Social Security and Medicare? I bet you can)
3) Competition having a distinct advantage by lower costs of production had the ability to offer:
A) Lower Cost Products
B) Increased R&D improving product quality
C) Increased options for similar price points
D) all of the above

Labors cost (retirement and pensions) along with high wages and
a work force unwilling to work with the companies to reduce expenses
as related to operations and retirement for years led to the final problem, remember
GM, Ford and Mopar are saddled with federal labor laws that restrict ability of the company.

Fords Management simply reacted faster, better, and smarter in the last few years to save the company
and the UAW had no choice but to take the demands of FORD or they would be in just as much trouble.

remember GM is huge compared to Ford and turning a battleship in a bathtub is not easy...

You may be right, trying to stir the pot. For me enough has been said and if some don't understand it all then well OK, but I'm done with this topic.